The Art of Asking God: Three Supplications
This is the seventh in a series of articles on how make dua or supplication from the seminar The Art of Asking from God by shaykh Faraz Rabbani, shaykh Abdullah Misra and shaykh Ahmed El-Azhary.
Fasting, reciting the Quran, night prayer in Ramadan, charity and all different sorts of rituals, each one of them is in itself a form of supplication. Allah says in the Quran:
قُلۡ مَا یَعۡبَؤُا۟ بِكُمۡ رَبِّی لَوۡلَا دُعَاۤؤُكُمۡۖ
“Say: ‘What should my Lord care about you were it not for your supplications?” [Quran, 25:77; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
The scholars interpret dua as worship. In the Quran worship and supplication are presented as equivalent. Allah says:
وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ٱدۡعُونِیۤ أَسۡتَجِبۡ لَكُمۡۚ إِنَّ ٱلَّذِینَ یَسۡتَكۡبِرُونَ عَنۡ عِبَادَتِی سَیَدۡخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِینَ
“And your Lord has said: ‘Call on Me and I will answer you: Verily those too proud to worship Me are bound to soon enter the depths of hell abased.’” [Quran, 40:60; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
This aspect is also present in the Sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). Al-Nu’man ibn Bashir (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Dua is worship.”
Note that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) did not say, “Dua is a worship.” So all the different forms of worship are a practical supplication. Sidi Sa’eed Nursi said, “Supplication is either by our condition or by the utterances and the words that we say.” Our actions can be also forms of supplication.
This is why when you think of the different manifestations of worship that we do such as prayer, recitation of the Quran, supplications, charity, pilgrimage, and all the different variations of worship in Islam, all of these collectively are present in the supplication. When we pray to Allah, we submit. In supplication, we are eager to have something. We beg Allah for it, yet we are submitting to His choice. Submission is the core of the worship.
Supplication of Hope
قل اللهم اقذف في قلبي رجاك، واقطع رجائي عن من سواك، حتى لا أرجو أحدا غيرك
“O Allah, cast into my heart hope in You and cut off any hope I have in other than You so that I have hope in no one but You!”
The supplication of hope has a story. Imam Ibn ‘Asakir mentions that when our master Hasan ibn ‘Ali gave up the caliphate to our master Mu’awiya they made an agreement. On a yearly basis, Mu’awiya would send to al-Hasan a hundred thousand dinars. With that money he would feed the poor, give to the needy, and spend them in charity for the community.
Mu’awiya kept this agreement for a few years. But then there came a year that the amount our master Mu’awiya used to send was delayed. Al-Hasan had to take loans. He fell in debt in order to feed the poor and care for the needy.
Things became difficult. Al-Hasan thought of sending a letter to Mu’awiya, reminding him and telling him about the situation. He asked for pen and paper. But just as he was about to write the letter, he did not proceed with it. He went to sleep and reportedly he saw his grandfather (Allah bless him and give him peace) and he told him what happened.
O Allah, I Ask You
Allegedly, in this dream, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) told al-Hasan to say the supplication mentioned above.
The supplication continues:
اللهم وما ضعفت عنه قوتي، وقصر عنه عملي ولم تنته إليه رغبتي، ولم تبلغه مسألتي، ولم يجر على لساني مما أعطيت أحدا من الأولين والآخرين من اليقين، فخصني به يا رب العالمين
“O Allah, however weak I am, however much my actions are deficient, however far short my desire (for good) falls, and in spite of the fact that I have not asked You, and that my tongue has not pronounced such a request, I ask You for the certainty that You have given any one of Your servants from the first to the last of them, so bless me with it, O Lord of the worlds.”
Al-Hasan reportedly recited this supplication for a week. At the end of this week, he found that Mu‘awiyah sent him five times the amount that he used to send. This supplication teaches us to have hope in Allah. We live in a world of tribulations so we need hope in our lives.
The Supplication of Happiness
وأدم على يا باسط يا فتاح بهجة مسرة رب اشرح لي صدري ويسر لي أمري
بلطائف عواطف ألم نشرح لك صدرك
وبأشائر بشائر يومئذ يفرح المؤمنون بنصر الله
“Endow me permanently, O Expander, O Opener, with the splendor and joyful delight of: Expand my breast for me, and make my task easy for me, through the subtleties and endearing qualities of: Did We not cause your breast to expand? and through the happy exuberance and good tidings of: And on that day, the believers will rejoice in Allah’s help to victory.”
This supplication is a segment of Al-Dawr Al-A’laa by Ibn ‘Arabi. It is a prayer of elevation and protection. In this magnificent supplication, you see how he ties and meshes the divine names with verses from the Quran in a very beautiful way.
This supplication by Ibn ‘Arabi is a supplication of happiness, joy and delight. It comes at a time in which many of us suffer from sadness, misery, disappointments, and hardships. When we are longing for joy and delight.
This supplication brings the secrets of two divine names and the secrets of three verses of the holy Quran. So it is a supplication that we ought to recite God-Willing.
Supplication of the Opener
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَىٰ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ ❁
الْفَاتِحِ لِمَا أُغْلِقَ ❁
وَالْخَاتِمِ لِمَا سَبَقَ ❁
نَاصِرِ الْحَقِّ بِالْحَقِّ ❁
وَالْهَادِي إِلَىٰ صِرَاطِكَ الْمُسْتَقِيمِ ❁
وَعَلَىٰ آلِهِ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ وَمِقْدَارِهِ الْعَظِيمِ
“O Allah, send prayers upon our master Muhammad; The opener of what was closed and the seal of what preceded; The helper of the truth by the Truth; And the guide to Your straight path; And upon his Family according to his greatness and magnificent rank.”
One of the Mauritanian Shaykhs, a grandson of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse, told Shaykh Ahmad al-Azhary to recite it 313 times during the last sixth of the night which is right before Fair prayer.
These are three prayers that we could keep as a daily routine. We should be persistent in our supplication.
